The recently introduced deposit scheme for food and drink cans is causing chaos at supermarkets, NU.nl reported.

Since April 1, cans have had a 15 cent deposit reimbursable at supermarkets, petrol stations, railway stations, cinemas and snack bars.

Long queues and malfunctioning processing machines seem to be the main problem, for instance at Jumbo, which has apologised to customers at a number of branches, the news site said.

A spokesman for Albert Heijn acknowledged the problems but said queues are an occasional problem because people “save up cans, so others have to wait”.

“We think this is good news because it means people are handing in their cans in big numbers ,” director of Statiegeld Nederland, which runs the deposit teturn scheme, Raymond Gianotten said.

Some 2.5 billion cans are being sold annually, 1 billion more than big and small plastic bottles put together, Gianotten said. “Supermarkets will probably have to install more machines and clean them more often to prevent technical hiccups, ” he said.

The government decided nearly two years ago to introduce deposits on drinks cans in an effort to cut down on litter.

Deposits were introduced on small plastic bottles in July 2021 and in the first year of operation around 80% were handed in for recycling.